Apathetic Dragon Knight
by Kiera Jinx
Summary: Following immediately after the Time Compression event, Squall finds himself in an unfamiliar world, where Dragons and Dragoons reside. Squall must unravel the mystery of his presence here, and find a way back home.
1. A whole new world

Squall Leonhart, an elite SeeD mercenary, has suddenly found himself looking at a thick forest from above. "How did I get here?" He thought to himself. The forest seems to get closer to him. "_What's going on? Am I... falling?_" Squall looked around and realized he was plummeting to his death. "_No, I can't die. Not like this!_" He thought hard to try to think of a way out of this. _Of course!_ "Float!" he shouted through the wind, casting a spell to slow his descent. He crashed through the trees and landed. It was painful, but thankfully he survived the fall. All around him was dense green woodland. He turned around to see a man in red armor watching him. The man looked concerned and surprised. "Are you all ri-" the man started before getting impaled by Squall's falling gunblade. Squall raised his arm to shield himself from the blood splatter, but to his surprise, there was none. He looked back only to see his gunblade wedged into the log that the man had been sitting on, the man no where in sight.

Squall went over and sheathed his blade, and looked around for a bit. After seeing no sign of the man in red, he continued on his way. He heard the rushing of hoove-steps, and followed the sound. There were soldiers leaving. Squall was about to approach one of them, but then a giant green insect-like creature ambushed from behind. The monster was easily ten times the size of a house, and when it appeared the soldiers immediately ran off in the other direction. Squall drew his gunblade, having experience fighting creatures of similar size. The monster, however, was faster than he had anticipated. It swiped him with its claw, knocking him back a fair ways, against a tree. The blow had knocked the wind out of him, but he slowly rose back to his feet, and took his stance. He readied himself to cast a spell, when all of a sudden, a woman dressed in black had jumped in and grabbed him. She was incredibly agile, and managed to escape from the beasts sight, and hide behind a boulder, all whilst carrying the fully grown adult male with a heavy bladed weapon in hands. "What are you-" Squall started, before the woman quickly clasped her hands over his mouth. "Sshhh," she whispered, "Stay quiet if you don't want to die." The two could hear the aggravated stomping of the creature as it searched for its escaped prey, before it quickly tired of the search. Its stomping growing quieter and quieter as in departed in the other direction.

Finally safe, Squall slapped the woman's hands away from his mouth. "I'm sorry, I just didn't want to see you needlessly give up your life." Squall ignored her, getting up to brush the dirt off of his clothes, and sheath his blade. "That was the Green Tusked Dragon, Feyrbrand," she said. Squall, completely indifferent, just said "Whatever," and walked off in the other direction. "There won't be anything left," she said, after seeing which way he was walking. He stopped to see what she was going on about. "Left of what?" he replied, half looking over his shoulder. "The village," she said, "that's where you're going, right?" Squall thought about it for a moment. "The dragon destroyed Seles?" he asked. She nodded, "Have you been there before?" She seemed genuinely curious. "Never," he said, before continuing to walk down the path to the destroyed village, leaving the odd woman behind. The fact that he knew the village's name bothered him the entire time.

Squall arrived at the hilltop overlooking the village. Though the fires had died down, the smell of smoke still polluted the air. He scouted the area. A few soldiers remained in the area. A couple of them were toying with the half-dead survivors of the town. Some of the houses were still standing, as well, and Squall assumed there were probably a few survivors hiding away in them. He decided to head down to the village, to investigate further. He approached the two soldiers, tormenting a dying old man, prodding at him with their swords. "Haven't you killed enough people already?!" the old man cried at his tormenters. "As a matter of fact," the soldier responded, "my kill count is currently only nine people, and I'd hate to leave it at an odd number," the soldier said as he pressed his blade against the man's neck. His partner laughed hysterically, and as he laughed, he saw Squall approaching from behind, but more importantly, he saw Squall's gunblade, sheathed at his side. The soldier drew his sword, and nudged his comrade into action. "And just who the hell are you?" Squall adjusted his pose, placing his hand on his hip nonchalantly, "A SeeD." The two kept at their stances, "Is that some kind of code-word?!" one asked, whilst the other one got a bit more panicky, "Are you a mercenary from Basil?!" Squall just sighed, "Whatever," they were clearly too on-edge to talk to, and he'd feel no guilt killing bastards such as them, so he drew his gunblade and prepared to fight. They attacked one at a time, consecutively, and their pattern was painfully predictable for the trained mercenary, and he had no difficulty at all cutting down the first one with a single slash through the chest. He didn't even have to pull the trigger to kill him. "You bastard!" the second one shouted as he charged forth in a rage. Squall simply hopped to the right, and dealt a decapitating slash as the soldier stumbled forward, disoriented. "You alright, old man?" Squall asked the older fellow after quickly dispatching his tormentors. "Dart, is that you?" the old man asked his savior. Squall remained silent. "Dart, please, don't worry about me... they've taken Shana. You have to rescue her," he struggled to say, coughing up blood. "Shana?" Squall asked, but it was too late, the man's wounds were too fatal, and he died after getting out that last sentence. The name "Shana" rang through his mind. Such a familiar, nostalgic name, like something from his childhood, but he couldn't quite place it.

Squall continued to search the town, and eventually, he found the commander of the remaining soldiers. "Hey!" Squall yelled out, grabbing the commander's attention. The commander turned, and immediately saw Squall's gunblade still in his hand, with blood on it. He drew his sword "Who are you?" Squall shrugged, "It doesn't matter. I need to know where you took Shana." The commander cocked his head at an angle, "Shana," he said curiously, "You mean the girl we ripped this village apart just to find? She's in Hellena Prison," he informed Squall. "And where would that be?" Squall continued to inquire. The commander pointed his sword towards the woodlands nearby "Past the woods, and to the south. Pretty hard to miss, honestly."

"Thanks," Squall said in monotone, before the commander raised his sword, "but I'm afraid I can't just let you go. A suspicious person like you coming around with a bloody sword, asking information about our prime target? No, I'm afraid you won't be leaving this village alive." Squall decided he was tired of people trying to kill him for the day, and he cast a fire spell to quickly end the confrontation. "Fira," he said, igniting the man to a crisp in an instant, and departing to the woodlands, ignoring everyone else in the village.

As the young mercenary trekked through the woods, he pondered on his situation. How did he get here? "The last thing I remember, Ultimecia created a time-compression," he thought. "What happened after that? Did we lose? Is this still the time-compression?" he struggled to remember, "And where is everybody? Zell, Quistis, Irvine, and..." He stopped walking a moment. "Zell, Quistis, Irvine, and... there were more, right?" He rubbed his palm against his forehead, as he so often does when he is frustrated. Eventually, he tired of trying to remember. "It'll come back to me. Right now, I need to focus on my goal. I need to save Shana." he thought. "Wait, who?"

He was then attacked by a wild dog. The dog sparked a vision in Squall's memory. In the memory, a young girl was being attacked by a similar dog in these very woods. A boy jumped in to protect her. "Leave Shana alone!" the boy said, swinging around a stick like it were a sword. Squall came back to his senses, and eliminated the feral animal with a quick slash of his gunblade. "Have I been here before...?"

When Squall reached the edge of the woodlands, he decided it would be a good time to set up camp. He checked his bags to make sure he still had all of his equipment. Gunblade, an assortment of healing items, a few tents, a full deck of Triple Triad cards, and all of the gil he earned from those annoying Exams, though he doubted it would do him much good in this world. Predictably, he didn't have any of the Guardian Forces that he had left with his other teammates, only a few were attached to him, and he still had his necklace, Griever. He also found a weird red stone that he didn't remember picking up before. "It seems familiar though. Ugh, what's wrong with my memory lately?" He set up a tent and rested a few hours. He'd need all the strength he could muster for a prison break, yet he had precious little time to waste to get there.


	2. A bat out of Hellena

Squall rested for a few hours, before waking into the evening. He packed his tent, and continued on his way. His journey south was mostly uneventful, though he did encounter a few animated trees. They weren't particularly interesting, or threatening, just a bit unusual. The journey ended at the dead of night, when he finally saw what he was looking for. A massive fortress isolated atop a peninsula, one narrow road leading to the only way in. Considering his situation, Squall cast a Scan spell as he hid behind a boulder along the road, to get a closer look at the fortress.

"_The only way in is through a drawbridge_," he observed, trying to come up with a plan. "_So forcing my way through isn't an option._" Squall considered his options and tried to formulate a plan, but his mind drew blank. "_Maybe this was a bad idea,_" he thought, "_I shouldn't get involved. It's not my mis-_," just then, he heard a wagon being pulled in behind. Squall peaked around behind the boulder to get a better look at it. It appeared to be a supply wagon, the driver not looking to be armed. This was his opportunity. Squall walked out from behind the boulder to stand in the wagon's path, to stop it. The driver stopped, "Hey, what's the problem?" he exclaimed. "I'm commandeering your wagon for SeeD purposes," Squall proclaimed.

"Seeds? No, sir, you're mistaken. All I've got is meat and bread, for the prison." The confused driver informed.

"I said, 'I'm commandeering your wagon.' That means 'get off!'" Squall said, with a sharper tone.

"Alright! Alright! I'm going!" The man dismounted, "but tell your boss I'll need compensation for this. Wagon's aren't cheap, you know!"

"Whatever," Squall said dismissively as he mounted the wagon and continued down the road. The driver walked back the way he came, totally unaware that he had just been robbed. He proceeded to pull the wagon up to the massive drawbridge. One of the guards blew into his whistle, with the most horrible shrill whistling imaginable. "This is the meat that Fruegel ordered?" one guard asked whilst another went around back to check the supply. "Yes, sir," Squall answered as formally as he could. Squall sat there in awkward silence with the guard, as the other went through his mandatory inspection. The guard around back signaled the all clear to the guard in front, who then blew his whistle and signaled to the gate-keeper to lower the drawbridge. "You're good to go," the guard told Squall, "I assume you know the way?" Squall considered asking for directions, but decided against it, preferring to avoid further awkward conversation with the guard. He instead nodded politely, and drove the wagon inside.

Looking around, Squall attempted his best to get his bearings in the prison. The architecture was off-putting, with several stone bridges and staircases illogically placed. There were immense gaps between many of the bridges, many of which seemed to go on forever, with no bottom. Eventually, Squall came across a doorway large enough for the wagon to enter, with a rag-sign hanging above that said "Supply Room," as good a place as any for him to abandon the wagon and continue on-foot. A guard greeted him as he parked. "Everything seems in order," he said, as Squall dismounted. "Wait here, and I'll get your payment. Don't move from this room, you understand?" The guard repeated himself in a threatening manner. "Whatever," Squall said in his dismissive tone. Just as the guard turned around to retrieve the gold, Squall finally broke his act. "Hey," Squall said to the guard, the guard turned a bit to see what he wanted. "Stop" Squall said, casting a spell on the guard to freeze him in time stasis for a few moments. Squall proceeded to draw his gunblade, and used the opportunity to whack the guard in the back of the head with the back-end of his blade. The unsuspecting guard immediately fell over and lost consciousness once he regained time. "_It's kinda weird that magic is so effective on these guys,_" Squall thought to himself, "_Could this be a world without magic?_"

Squall navigated the labyrinthine prison, doing his best not to get lost in the ridiculous twist and turns of the arbitrary architecture. Guards were sparsely spread out amongst the area, but they seemed mostly focused at the balconies, where one could get a better idea of where one was in the prison. Squall was careful not to be seen, keeping in mind his SeeD training, which, amongst many other things, taught him to learn about his enemy, before jumping into any large scale battle. He sneaked up onto one of the balconies to get a better vantage, and try to plan his next move. He observed several shoddily built elevators connecting each of the balconies, and a little further up, he saw two towers, with barred windows all along them. "_That's probably where they're keeping the prisoners,_" he thought. As he sneaked his way toward the towers, he couldn't help but feel as though he were being watched. He slowed his pace to try and spot his onlooker, but to no success. Whoever it was was good at keeping undetected. "_If it were a guard, they'd be swarming me by now,_" Squall silently reassured himself, "_better to stay focused on the mission._"

As Squall made his way towards the prison, he passed by the guard's dining hall. He overheard one of the guards chatting amongst his comrades, "I was thinking about swinging by the West tower, and giving that new girl a hard time, hehe," he giggled, clearly pissed drunk. "_Shana's in the West tower,_" Squall noted to himself, quickly getting away from the hive of drunk and disorderly guardsmen. He rode one of the rickety old elevators, and finally arrived at the West tower. Unfortunately for him, the door was locked. He tried kicking it a few times, but it wouldn't budge. Just as he was readying to pull out his gunblade and start chopping down the door, a guard whistled that horrible shrill whistle from behind. Squall flinched. "You there!" the guard shouted as he rushed forward, wielding some sort of large two-handed mace. Squall turned around, nonchalantly, and drew his weapon. "Do you have the key?" he asked the guard who was threatening his life. "I'll have your head!" the guard declared as he swung his mace downward. Squall quickly raised his blade over-head, and parried the guard's attack. "That's not a cutting weapon. You'd have to take the rest of my body, too," Squall quipped as he returned the attack, and was also parried. "You bastard!" the guard screamed as he rushed forward for a berserk attack. He thrust his mace towards Squall's head, but Squall ducked under it, and cut the guard's legs. The guard's forward momentum continued, he himself confused, disoriented, and injured from Squall's attack, until he smashed through the door. The deep gash in his shins from Squall's strike left him unable to get up and keep fighting, and he winged in pain. "Aren't you going to kill me?" he said to Squall, as he walked past him and into the tower. "Not if you stay quiet," the young mercenary responded. "Hah... if you don't kill me, Fruegel will... He's ruthless... Not like you... You don't stand a chance of getting out of here..." the guard rambled on. "Shut up," Squall retorted, sick of his babbling, and then proceeded to cast a sleep spell on the guard.

As Squall investigated each cell, he noticed there weren't any guards around on each floor. When he worked his way higher and higher through the tower, however, he began to hear the sound of a battle going on near the top. Squall continued working his way higher, still yet to see Shana in any of these cells, until, to his surprise, a man fell down from one of the top floors of the tower, into the bottomless abyss down bellow. Squall decided at this point that ignoring the chaos above would serve him no good, so he took the shabby elevator and made his way to the second floor from the top. A few ragged soldier-types were fighting with rusty swords against the guards. They were clearly tired and injured from a battle prior, and were unable to keep the guards attacks at bay. The elevator finally settled a ways down the hall for Squall to dismount, but before he could lend any assistance, a blonde haired man, lightly armored, and carrying a spear charged into the fray. He ran his spear clean through one of the guards, and with great power, dislodged his spear to ready for his next attack before the other guard even realized what had happened. "Rrragh! Harpoon!" the man shouted as he thrust his spear forward into the guard, then proceeding to do a powerful twirling slash, sending the guard spiraling back, dead in a single attack. Squall was about to approach the man, but just then, two guards attempted to attack him from behind. Squall rolled out of the way, and then doubled back, away from the guards. Unexpectedly, his back bumped into the man with the spear, who had also been backing away from a couple of guards. The two, surprised at the sudden contact, turned around and clashed weapons for a moment, before coming to their senses, and teaming up together to take on their foe. The two attacked in sequence, switching which group after each attack. One guard took on the spear-man head on, their weapons clashing repeatedly, and his partner attempted to catch the spear-man off-guard, but Squall quickly jumped in to parry the attacker, as the spear-man swiftly ended his target with a stab through the throat. Just as one of the guards behind them attempted to attack Squall from behind as he was preoccupied, the spear-man quickly dislodged his weapon, and performed a backwards jab into the guard's stomach with the blunt of his spear, knocking the wind out of him. Just as that was happening, Squall used his attacker's strength against him by sliding his blade around the back of the guard's mace. The guard, off-balance, had no way to defend from Squall's slash through the chest, which sent him flying backward, with a timely pull of the trigger. The spearman proceeded to turn around, and impale the winded guard through his head, as Squall jumped back and finished the last guard with a powerful slice, shattering his mace, and killing him in a heartbeat.

After the two of them basked in the after-glow of their victory, the spearman decided he'd be the one to break the ice. "You fought incredibly!" he complimented. Squall wasn't really good at accepting compliments, so he just shrugged, and avoided eye-contact. "Please, let me introduce myself. I am Lavitz Slambert, a knight of Basil," he said, hand outstretched for greeting. "Squall Leonhart. I'm with SeeD," Squall introduced himself, not shaking Lavitz's hand. "Well, Dart, what brought you-," Squall interrupted him, "Squall. My name is Squall," he repeated. "Erhm," Lavitz looked a bit confused, "I don't really hear the difference. I'm sorry, I've never been good with accents. You don't mind if I continue to call you 'Dart,' do you?" Lavitz asked, seeming a bit saddened that he had ruined his first impression with his new ally. "_Can't hear the difference? How does 'Squall' sound anything like 'Dart'?!_" he thought to himself, but aloud he merely said "Whatever."

"So, as I was going to ask before, what brought you here, to Hellena? Are you an escaping prisoner as well?" Lavitz inquired. "No. I came here of my own will. I'm here to find a girl named 'Shana,'" Squall informed his new companion. "Is this 'Shana' your sweetheart?" Lavitz asked, getting a bit nosy. "None of your business," Squall said dismissively. "Sorry. Touchy topic, I take it?" Lavitz kept on. "None of your business," Squall repeated more sternly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to pry. Listen, I heard they recently brought in a girl, at the top floor, right above. That's probably her." Lavitz said, trying to get back on Squall's good side. "Alright," Squall said, as they walked toward the elevator to the next floor.

The two looked around the top floor. Most of the cells were empty. Eventually, Lavitz shouted out to Squall "Hey, I think I found her!" The small, brown-haired girl approached the cell doors to see who was talking. "Are you Miss Shana?" Lavitz asked her, "Y-yes. How do you know who I-" she stopped talking as she saw Squall approach. "I-is that you Dart?" she asked, a bit reserved, yet there was restrained joy in her voice. "Stand back," Squall said, as he readied his gunblade to break the lock. She complied, and just then, Squall jammed his gunblade between the lock and the door-frame, and pulled the trigger to shatter the lock. Before he could even regain his composure, Shana jumped on him to give him a big hug. "Dart! I'm so glad you're here!" Squall was wholly uncomfortable with the situation, as Lavitz looked on with a big grin, apparently satisfied that his initial assumption appeared true. Squall pushed her back, gently. "This isn't the time, we need to get out of here," Squall said, trying not to get distracted from his objective. "Stay behind me and Lavitz. We'll take care of the fighting," Squall told her. "No," she objected, "I can fight, too!" she said, grabbing a flimsy bow, and a quiver of arrows off the wall. Squall sighed, "Whatever," he said, as he led the group back out the tower.

Squall was careful to retrace his steps through the prison. The horrible, poorly designed prison was an easy place to get lost in, and Squall definitely didn't want all his time and effort from this point to be wasted. He didn't care too much, this time, about being sneaky, as the trio were more than enough to deal with any guards that got in their way. Shana, despite Squall's initial impression of her, was quite a good shot, despite the poor quality of her weapon. Just as they were approaching the drawbridge, an obese man, decked in gold armor, with a silly horned helmet, and a big wooden club stood in their way. "Where do you think you're going with my prisoners?" the obese man said with a breathy voice. "Your prisoners?" Squall asked. "Yeah, my prisoners. I'm the warden here. Warden Fru-"

"Fruegel," Squall cut in. "Don't interrupt me!" Fruegel shouted in a rage. "Yes, I am Warden Fruegel, and you are stealing my prisoners!" He repeated himself, "Especially that girl! I'm under specific orders from Emperor Doel to hold onto her!"

"Enough talk!" Lavitz interjected, readying his spear for a fight. Squall and Shana followed suit. "Hehe, feisty, eh? Most people cower in fear at just the sound of my name!" Fruegel taunted. "Thunder," Squall cast a lightning spell, as he bored of Fruegel's inane jabber. The lightning struck Fruegel hard, strenghtened by the conductivity of Fruegel's garish golden armor. "Ow! Stop with your tricks!" Fruegel shouted, as he slammed his club downward, the shockwave alone sending Squall back. Lavitz used the opportunity to skid around to Fruegel's side and charge forward, "Rragh! Harpoon!" he shouted as he struck with that signature technique from before. "Agh! Stop that!" Fruegel said in pain, his golden armor clearly not very strong. Shana shot an arrow into his massive belly as he was distracted attacking Lavitz in retaliation. "Rgh, this isn't fair, 3 against 1!" he then whistled a call "Rodriguez! Guftas!" Arriving at his side were a horrible four legged beast with a horned Mohawk, and a decorated bird-monster. "Heheheh," the hefty man chuckled, "Get rid of these guys!" The bird made a beeline for Squall, whereas the beast attempted to maul Lavitz. As Squall and Lavitz were preoccupied, Shana continued to pelt Fruegel with arrows. The beast bit toward Lavitz, but he blocked it with his spear, unfortunately, the beast grabbed onto his spear, and it was a struggle for superiority. Squall proceeded to swat at the bird-creature as it tried to attack. "Ugh, I can't deal with these flying creatures. If only Kineas were here," Squall thought to himself, "Kineas, or R-..." the missing memory caused him to hesitate, which the bird took full advantage of, and tackled him to the ground. The bird proceeded to peck at his face, as he held his arms up as best he could to defend himself. "Dart!" Shana shouted when she saw what was happening, and let loose an arrow, which landed squarely on the bird's back. It squawked in pain, as Shana had apparently hit a very vital part of its spine, and its legs went limp. "Rodriguez!" Fruegel shouted in anger, as he lifted a huge chunk out of the ground and tossed it at Shana. It barely missed her, but the near death experience sent her into shock. She fell to her knees, her inexperience in battle finally getting to her. Squall grabbed his gunblade, and decapitated the bird while he had the chance, and made a charge towards Fruegel. "No!" Fuegel swept his club across the ground, hitting Squall directly, and sending him flying into a wall. Meanwhile, Lavitz strength had finally won out over the beast, as he yanked his spear free, breaking some of the beasts fangs with the force, and quickly impaling it through the chin, finishing it with a single, well-timed counter attack. "No! Not Guftas, too!" Fruegel screamed in his grief. Squall struggled to stand up, the single attack he recieved from Fruegel had left him beaten and bloodied. However, it is when Squall is on the brink of death that his true power emerges! He held his gunblade high, "Limit Break," he declared as he proceeded to run forward with lightning speed. "Renzokuken!" he shouted aloud as he unleashed a flurry of slashes on Fruegel, each one with precise timing of the trigger to guarantee maximum damage. Just when his flurry ended, he jumped back "It's over," Squall stated as he readied his blade for one final attack. "Rough Divide!" Squall said as he flew forward and sliced cleanly through Warden Fruegel. Squall collapsed to his knee as Fruegel fell into two. Shana rushed to his side. "Dart! Are you okay?!" she cried. "Ugh, I'll be fine..." Squall looked around to find that Lavitz was curiously missing. "Where... did Lavitz go?"

"Uhm," Shana looked around, but couldn't find him either. Suddenly, Lavitz returned, riding a horse, and dragging another horse along with him. "Hurry up, you two! We need to leave!" They nodded. Shana helped Squall up onto the horse, while she drove, and the three rode out, across the drawbridge, and escaping into the horizon. It was finally sunrise. Squall's first sunrise since arriving in this world.


	3. Genesis of Uroboros

The trio had been riding all morning. Squall was still badly injured, and barely holding onto consciousness. After their escape, the Imperial Sandoran forces quickly set up plans to pursue. The path back to Seles had been blocked off by Sandoran soldiers, so the group had to make a detour. By Lavitz suggestion, the three were heading north, towards Basil, to seek safe haven in Lavitz' hometown, and to request assistance from King Albert, whom Lavitz was apparently quite close to. Despite the trek taking hours, the whole ordeal went by in a blur. Squall could feel his consciousness fading. The group was riding through the prairies, when Squall finally lost his willpower, and collapsed off the horse. "Dart!? Oh no, Dart!" Shana's words were the last thing Squall heard as he faded into darkness.

A familiar feeling engulfed Squall. He watched a village burning. He looked up, and saw a woman standing tall over him, holding his hand as they watched the village burn. Standing next to her was a man, just as tall. The man spoke to the woman, his words inaudible, but his words clearly hurt her, as she suddenly started crying. The man left, running towards the burning village. "Momma," the voice came out, without Squall's volition, "what are we gonna do now?" The woman looked down toward Squall teary eyed, and held him tight, then let him go. She spoke, but no sound came out, yet Squall could clearly read her lips. She said "I'm sorry," before turning around, and running after the man into the fire.

Squall awoke in a shabby old cabin. He rubbed his palm against his forehead, to try and soothe the aching in his mind. "_It's like with Laguna, again?_" He thought as his mind ached, "_but that wasn't Laguna. Who was it?_" Squall rubbed his eyes, trying to clear himself of drowsiness. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed another bed across the room. Shana was sleeping on it, above the covers. He could tell she had apparently dosed off while keeping watch on him. His gunblade was resting at the foot of the bed. He picked it up to sheath it, then walked outside to get a better idea of where they were. It was dawn outside, in the hilly prairie. Lavitz was leaning against the cabin, standing right next to the doorway. He was snoring so loudly, that Squall was surprised he hadn't noticed until now. "_That's almost impressive,_" Squall thought to himself. There was a pond nearby, which Squall approached. He splashed his face with water, to try and help wake himself up. Just then, he saw something distinctly wrong with his reflection.

"_That... that's not me!_"

Reflected in the water was the image of a man in red armor. He had spiky light brown hair, held in place by a red bandana. His shocked expression mirrored Squall's own. It took a moment, but Squall recognized the man. "_That's the man,_" Squall realized, "_who I killed when I arrived here._" Squall punched the reflection in frustration, splashing the water all about and getting his hair damp. "_Are these his memories?!_"

Lavitz woke from his nap, the sound of Squall's splashing catching his attention. "Dart!" Lavitz called to him as he approached. Squall turned around to notice. "Did you fall into that pond?" Lavitz said, noticing Squall's wet hair. "Uh, I was just thirsty," Squall lied to try to explain his actions. "We were worried. You were out cold all day," Lavitz said to Squall concernedly. "Shana told me a lot about you while you were out," Lavitz began to speak in a more serious tone, "She said that you left the village to hunt down the Black Monster." The phrase "Black Monster" made Squall's mind flash back to the burning village from his dreams. "Is that what happened?" Squall accidentally pondered aloud. "Huh?" Lavitz grunted, not understanding Squall's question. "It's nothing," Squall dismissed. "It's not nothing! The Black Monster is dangerous! You shouldn't throw your life away trying to seek vengeance against a beast like that!" Lavitz insisted, clearly not reading Squall's indifference. "Fine. I won't try to find the Black Monster," Squall said to appease Lavitz. In truth, Squall had absolutely no intentions of pursuing a stranger's quest for vengeance. Lavitz was a bit perplexed by Squall's response. "You're a hard man to read, Dart," Lavitz commented. "Whatever," Squall retorted, as he walked back to the cabin.

Squall knocked twice on the wall. "We need to go," he told Shana as she drowsily woke from her sleep. "Hey wait, Dart!" she called out to him, as he turned around, ready to leave. She grabbed his sleeve to keep him from leaving. "What?" Squall asked, a bit frustrated with the girl's sudden demands. "Is something bothering you, Dart? You've been so cold lately. It's not like you!" Shana exclaimed with worry in her eyes. Squall sighed, "It's none of your-"

"_Business?_" before he could finish his sentence, Squall's mind wandered off to when Quistis would tease him for his antisocial behavior. Being separated from his friends for so long, he just realized he'd slipped back into his old ways.

"I just think we should get to a safe place before we try to relax," Squall explained, "We're still in enemy territory right now." Shana nodded, trying to understand where he was coming from. Despite her compliance, it was clear she still didn't trust that something wasn't off about him. The three went around the back of the cabin, and mounted their horses to be off. This time, Squall rode in front, while Shana clung to his back. Lavitz was leading the way out of the prairie. "Lavitz, tell us more about where we're going," Squall shouted out to him.

"We're headed through the Limestone caves as a shortcut to Bale, the capital of Basil."

"Will we have to worry about any beasts in these caves?"

"I hear there's some goblins and spiders here and there, but nothing that should trouble a warrior such as yourself."

"I don't need your compliments, Lavitz."

"Apologies, friend. Nevertheless, we're just about there, so I suppose we'll see for ourselves."

The group approached the cave's entrance. Some of the streams from the prairie lead into the cave, which made the whole place damp and humid. Lavitz slapped the horses on their rear to scare them off, so as to keep their enemies from finding them in the caves. They proceeded to make their way through the cave. There were some treacherous jumps to be made, and Lavitz previous assumption about the goblins and spiders were indeed true, especially the part about them being no trouble. The whole adventure was actually almost calming to Squall. It gave him time to recollect his thoughts. "_So, the man I killed, he was probably Dart,_" Squall thought to himself, "_everyone sees me as him, and for some reason can't hear my name. If I had to guess, the dream from yesterday was probably one of his memories. It seems like Shana had some strong feelings for Dart, so I shouldn't let on that he's dead. And Shana..._" Squall suddenly became concerned with his own actions. "_Why did I feel the need to save Shana? She was the primary target of the attack on Seles, but that doesn't have anything to do with me,_" Squall then became very worried, "_Is Dart influencing my actions? No! I won't let that happen!_"

Before Squall had even realized it, the group had neared the end of the cave system. Just as they were about to leave, they were ambushed by a massive snake-like creature. It had no eyes, but tiny useless black wings on the side of its head, and a bushy black beard hanging bellow its fanged mouth. It was quite possibly the most absurd looking non-robotic thing Squall had ever seen. "The Uroboros... so it is real," Lavitz said in astonishment. Squall gave Lavitz a dirty look. "You said we'd only have to worry about goblins and spiders," Squall said, rather annoyed. "Apologies, Dart. The Uroboros was just a legend, or so I thought. Had I conceived that we would actually run into it, I would have warned you." Lavitz said, drawing his spear for battle, as Squall and Shana did the same. The Uroboros began its attack by spraying poisonous gas at the group. Squall and Lavitz quickly held their breath, and covered their noses before the gas could get to them, but Shana, unaware of what was happening, managed to get poisoned. The poison made her cough uncontrollably, as she fell to her knees. Squall and Lavitz took notice, and Lavitz rushed to her side to get her an antidote, whilst Squall cast an Aero spell to blow the poison away with magic winds. The Uroboros was now fully focused on Squall. It lunged forward to bite Squall, but he rolled out of the way, just in time. Squall counter attacked, slashing it across its bulbous head with a well timed pull of the trigger. The monster flinched and slithered backward in surprise. Lavitz then rushed behind it, to surprise him with a new technique he had come up with "Hrgh!" Lavitz thrust his spear forward, then followed it with an upward slash, after which he twirled his spear about for a while before ending with a powerful downward slash "Spinning Cane!" he declared. The Uroboros roared in pain from this surprise attack, as it fell face forward toward Squall. Squall then chopped through the creatures great girth, separating its head from the rest of its body.

"Hah! We did it!" Lavitz shouted in celebration. Squall was still a bit peeved that Lavitz kept the information of the beast a secret from him. "Are you still mad?" Lavitz asked, somewhat oblivious. "Hey, I don't think we'll encounter any other creatures of legend, but if you want to play it safe, we should keep an eye out for Gigantos, Winglies, and the Black Monster," Lavitz joked. "Whatever," Squall said somewhat dismissively. Suddenly, the Uroboros' severed head flew up into the air with its tiny useless wings. Before any of them had a chance to respond, the beast flew forward to attack Shana. As its jaws closed over her, it suddenly erupted in a flash of blinding bright light. Shana emerged totally unscathed, unsure what just happened, as were the rest of them.

"Shana, what just happened?" Squall asked with a great deal more concern than usual. "I-I don't know," she said, the whole ordeal clearly stressing her out quite a bit. Before Squall could be inconsiderate some more, Lavitz interrupted the whole conversation. "Everyone, we're almost out of here. We've only a little further until we get to Bale," he informed them as he lead the way out. Squall helped Shana to her feet, and the two followed Lavitz to the end of the cave. It was midday. The lush plains of Basil were a soothing sight after so much time fighting in the caves. "It's over that way!" Lavitz pointed excitedly toward the town clearly visible a brief jog away. The enormous castle towering over the city was what caught Squall's attention the most.

"Hey Lavitz, the King lives in that castle, right?" Squall inquired.

"Yes, in Indels Castle, resides King Albert. He's a good man, and a strong leader."

"You think you could get me in? I'd like to speak with him."

"Hah! We think alike! I was planning on introducing you to him, anyways! Figure you deserve a reward for saving one of the King's Knights!"

"If you insist," Squall said. "_It's a long shot, but the King might know more about what's going on than I do,_" Squall thought, "_it'd be a good place to start finding some information about how to get home._"

And so, the three made their way to the city of Bale.


	4. Reach out to the Truth

Squall, Lavitz, and Shana had finally arrived in the bustling Capital city of Bale. Squall observed Lavitz' big goofy grin, ecstatic that he had finally come back to his home town. Lavitz led the way through the town, as Squall and Shana lagged behind, taking in their surroundings. The whole city was paved with stone streets, and a water-way was visible bellow at the edge of most roads. As they were walking, someone bumped into Squall hard enough to make him stumble off his feet. Squall looked back to see who it was. Behind him was an elderly man in a black cloak, stumbled over and resting on his knee. Squall stood back up, and patted himself off. "Are you all right?" Squall asked as he helped the man back up. "Yes, thank you good sir," the man responded, as Squall got a better look at his face. He appeared to be between 70 to 80 years old, with long platinum hair frayed and flowing down his neck, and wearing a metal half-mask covering the left side of his face, presumably to cover up some terrible burn. "Did you drop this?" the man asked, as he handed Squall the shiny red stone from before. "Oh, I guess so," Squall acknowledged, barely recognizing the object. "Take care of that," the man said with a strange smile, "it looks important," he then walked away, disappearing into the crowds of the city.

"Dart!" Lavitz shouted out to Squall, having wandered off with Shana a fair distance without Squall noticing. Squall approached nonchalantly, pocketing the stone. "Did you get lost?" Lavitz asked, apparently not having noticed the old man Squall had bumped into. "No, just got a little distracted," Squall said, trying to dispel any would-be rumors of himself having a bad sense of direction. "Right, so let us report back to Indels Castle. That would be our first priority," Lavitz said, continuing to lead the group into the city. The whole town was bustling with activity, but they hadn't the time to see any of it, currently, as they made a bee-line towards Indels Castle. Crossing the wide bridge that connected the castle to the city, the trio approached the gate. The guards immediately recognized Lavitz, and allowed the group entrance. Inside, Indels Castle seemed to be a labyrinth made up of staircases and cramped rooms. Squall was thoroughly unimpressed with the structure of the building, however, he's not usually one to be impressed by that kind of thing.

They at last arrived at the top floor of the castle, into the throne room. The throne room was just as cramped as any other room in the castle, though it was more aesthetically pleasing with its ornate decorum. Inside the throne room were 3 men, a younger man with dirty blonde hair tied loosely into a pony-tail, wearing a fancy green cape, and carrying a scepter, presumably, he was the King. Next to him was a middle aged man, wearing a blue and beige robe, and a matching blue hat that sagged unimpressively over his brow. He was probably an adviser of some sort. Lastly, hanging about in the back of the room, as if trying not to be noticed was an elderly man with platinum hair, wearing a black cloak that covered most of his body, and a metal half-mask. Squall immediately recognized the man from their encounter earlier. The man's presence was quite off-putting to Squall.

Lavitz bowed down before the King, with Squall and Shana quickly following his lead. "King Albert, I, Lavitz Slambert, am reporting back from my mission!" Lavitz declared, unusually formally. "Ah! Lavitz! You've returned!" The King said with a surprising amount of glee. "I was so worried when I heard that your unit had been captured!"

"The Sandorans held us prisoner in Hellena Prison. I managed to escape with the help of Dart and Shana," Lavitz gestured towards Squall and Shana, indicating that they were in fact the ones who helped him escape. "Unfortunately, the rest of my unit lost their lives in the escape attempt. I accept full responsibility for their deaths," Lavitz said, getting a little teary eyed at the memory of his lost comrades. The King didn't even seem upset, he was clearly just relieved to see Lavitz again. "Don't worry about it too much, Lavitz. I know you did all you could to save them. I'm just glad you returned safely."

"And you!" Albert said towards Squall, "You deserve some reward for rescuing my Knight Captain. Name anything you want, and I will see to it that you receive it!" Albert claimed, enthusiastically. Squall stood up, and considered how he would ask his question. In order to avoid alerting Lavitz and Shana, he asked his question in a round-about way. "Can you tell me anything about people from another world?" he asked. "Another world?" Albert inquired. "Yeah. More specifically, people from another world coming to this world."

"I'm not too familiar with any legends of that sort. Minister Noish, could you help?" Albert asked of the man standing next to him. "Aye, I know of one. Shortly after the Dragon Campaign, a man with no name appeared here in this continent of Serdio. A kind-hearted man, wielding a weapon not of this world. When the village was under siege by a gang of ravenous Gigantoes, he used his incredible other-worldly weapons to fend them off. The Gigantoes couldn't even get close, as his weapon pierced their armor from afar." Squall was uninterested in the daring feats of the so-called hero, so he asked a more "to the point" question. "Do you know how he arrived here, or if he managed to go back to his home?"

"There are many variations on the tale. Some say he rose up from the sea, others say he descended from the heavens. Unfortunately, we do not have good records of the event, save for legends passed by word of mouth." Minister Noish said with a sympathetic tone.

"_Descended from the heavens?_" Squall thought to himself. "_When I arrived here, I fell out from the sky. Whoever this guy was might've come the same way. Shortly after the..._"

"Could you tell me about the Dragon Campaign? I'm not familiar with that."

"Oh yes," Minister Noish said with a bit more enthusiasm. Clearly, this was a topic he enjoyed discussing, for whatever reason. "The Dragon Campaign was a long and bloody war between the Humans and the Winglies."

"Winglies?" Squall asked in mild disbelief.

"The Winglies were winged folk who lorded over Humanity. Humans were their slaves, to be subjugated by the might of the Winglies. The Dragon Campaign changed all of that. Humans fought back against the Winglies, with the assistance of Dragons!"

"Humans fought along-side the Dragons?" Shana interjected, the subject beginning to pique her interest. "Indeed, Dragons live to serve humans!" Minister Noish responded. "_Does this idiot even notice the irony in that?_" Squall quietly thought to himself. "Using the awesome might of the Dragons, the humans vanquished their Wingly overlords!"

"How long ago did all this happen?" Squall asked.

"Oh, about eleven-thousand years ago, I suppose." Minister Noish stated. "_Eleven-thousand years?!_" Squall thought, "_So, the legend could be totally made up..._"

"Was the information to your satisfaction?" Minister Noish asked. "Y-yeah. You were a great help. Thanks." Squall said, leaning up against a column to try and relax his troubled mind. "Now, Lavitz," Albert began with a solemn look in his eyes, "I hate to do this to you after you've just come back, but we're barely holding the line at Hoax. If it's not too much trouble, could you and your new friends offer reinforcements?" Albert asked in earnest. "Of course Sire. I'll leave tomorrow afternoon." Lavitz saluted whilst reassuring his King. Lavitz then turned back towards Squall. "Dart, can I count on you to have my back?" Squall shrugged, "Sure, whatever."

"Excellent!" Lavitz said with great enthusiasm. "I-I'm coming too!" Shana let out. "No, you're not," Squall stated flatly. "But Dart, I don't want to leave you ever again!" she spoke, bluntly. "You'll get in the way," Squall said, completely indifferent towards her plea.

"No, Dart! I can fight, too!"

"No, you can't."

"I can! I'll protect you!"

"_What a pain,_" Squall thought, the exchange giving him a headache. "Fine, whatever."

Albert and Noish stood in awkward silence. The elderly man in the black cloak had apparently left at some point when Squall had yet to take notice. "So, ehrm..." Albert spoke uncomfortably, "I'm glad that's settled... hah... hah..." he forced laughter to try and lighten the mood. Squall left the room making his way out of the castle, with Lavitz and Shana chasing behind. "Wait, Dart! Where are you going?" Lavitz called out. Squall stopped and turned around. "I'm going to find an Inn to sleep for the night," Squall stated plainly. "You don't have to do that!" Lavitz said with a big goofy smile, "You should stay the night at my house! I'll introduce the two of you to my mother!"

While Squall was a bit thrown off by the idea of meeting Lavitz's mother, he couldn't argue with getting a free room to sleep in, so he reluctantly agreed to Lavitz's proposal, with his usual "Whatever."

As the group made their way through town, they were stopped by an excitable short woman in overalls. "Oh my gosh, you're Sir Lavitz!" the woman exclaimed with glee. Lavitz chuckled shyly, clearly not used to being recognized. "Please, let me paint your portrait!" she pleaded with the uncomfortable Knight Captain. "Uh, certainly!" Lavitz declared, trying to sound proper and noble, like he felt a knight should. She then dragged Lavitz into her house, nearby, Squall and Shana reluctantly following. Inside the house was quite a mess. Paintings were scattered all about the house, with little rhyme or reason. The whole place was quite dingy, with no windows anywhere, the only light source coming from the lanterns scattered about the house. "Hold still," she said, readying her canvas, "this won't take long." As she painted Lavitz a pretty pretty portrait, Squall decided to look about the house. There were many portraits surprisingly unclaimed, some of which looked quite old, and various other art, such as a painting of a boat, and a sketch of a dragon. Then, a familiar sight caught Squall's attention. An old looking portrait covered in dust. The portrait was of a girl, with short curly hair, smiling softly. It was a face Squall immediately recognized. "_Selphie?!_" he thought, confused.

Shana noticed Squall staring at the portrait, and approached to investigate. "Someone you know?" she asked. "I- I'm not sure," Squall responded, still somewhat shocked to see the familiar face. "Tee-hee! All done!" the girl declared, handing the freshly painted portrait to Lavitz. "Thank you. I will treasure it, always." Lavitz said, still trying to sound noble. "Hey," Squall called out to the girl "When did you paint this?" he pointed to the portrait of Selphie. The girl walked over to see. "Oh, I didn't paint that one," she said. "Could you tell me who did?" he asked. "Uhm..." she paused to think about it for a minute, "I think that's one of my grandfather's old portraits."

"Could I talk to your grandfather?" Squall proceeded to question

"I'm afraid that's not possible, my grandfather died five years ago." she said. Squall was beginning to get frustrated. It seemed that every lead went to a dead end. "Is something the matter, Dart?" Lavitz asked in a concerned tone. "No, it's nothing."

The three departed, and finally arrived at Lavitz's home that evening. His house was impressively large, with two stories, and a large living room with various little knick-knacks strewn about. Lavitz's mother welcomed them all with a warm embrace, and made sure to tell embarrassing stories of Lavitz's childhood to his new acquaintances. She decided to cook a big dinner for everyone before they had to leave, and Shana even volunteered to help. Squall is neither a picky eater, nor a particularly skilled cook, so he did not volunteer. Lavitz decided to take that time to show Squall around the house. The rooms were fairly typical, a bedroom for Lavitz, a bedroom for his mother, and a guest bedroom with two beds. The final room Lavitz showed Squall was a rather impressive library. Bookshelves lined the walls with books on all sorts of topics. There was a wheeled staircase, presumably used to reach the higher-up books. Lavitz pushed the staircase about, until it faced a conspicuous trap-door in the roof. "Come, I want to show you my 'treasure'!" Lavitz said with enthusiasm as he led Squall through the trap-door. The door went directly up to the rooftop, where one could see the entire city. Even Squall had to admit that the view was quite nice. Just as Lavitz was preparing to tell Squall stories of his adventures, the two heard Lavitz mother call out that dinner was ready.

Later that night, Squall had difficulty trying to get sleep. All the information he had taken in weighed heavily on his mind, so he sat upon the rooftop, letting the cold night air bring him calm. The streets were empty, for the time being, so the experience was quite soothing, for a time. After a while, though, Squall felt eyes upon him again. He looked down and saw a woman with raven-black hair standing in the streets staring at him. She wore a dark blue suit-shirt, with a similarly colored battle-skirt. She seemed to be saying something to him, but she was speaking too quietly for Squall to hear. Just then, Squall heard someone approaching from the stair-case behind. "Dart, are you up there?" Lavitz said as he emerged from the trap-door. "Huh?" Lavitz grunted in confusion upon seeing Squall. "Who are you?" Lavitz asked, a bit startled. Squall answered, "It's me, Squall." Lavitz climbed out of the trap-doorway to stand on the rooftop to face Squall. "Squall, huh? What are you doing here? Where is Dart?" Lavitz questioned with assertion, taking a strong stance. Squall's eyes perked up as he averted his gaze toward Lavitz. "_He heard my name?_" Squall thought. "Where is Dart?!" Lavitz repeated. "I-..." Squall suddenly a guilty need to confess, "I killed him." Squall stood up to look Lavitz in the eye. "You..." Lavitz was clearly feeling strongly affected by Squall's words, his hands were in trembling fists, "You bastard!" Lavitz punched Squall in the face, giving him a bloody lip, but Squall stood strong. He wiped the blood from his mouth, and looked at it for a moment, before waving his hand in a taunting manner. The two got into a fist-fight. Lavitz, fighting out of fury over the death of his friend, and Squall fighting to vent his frustrations. Squall's frustrations seemed evenly matched with Lavitz fury as the two traded blow for blow in the cold night air. Eventually, the fight became more heated, and Lavitz tackled Squall into the barn next door to Lavitz's house, which had an open roof-way. The fight carried on for a while, until Squall got the upper hand on Lavitz, and knocked him down from the barn, Lavitz landed on the hard ground, and stopped moving. Squall hopped down to check Lavitz's vitals. He was alive, just unconscious. Squall proceeded to carry Lavitz back into his house, and lie him on his bed. Squall returned to the guest bedroom, against his better judgement, and rested his weary body on the bed. He had decided he would try to explain his situation that morning.

However, the very next morning didn't go quite as Squall had expected. He awoke to the sight of Lavitz's grinning bruised face. "C'mon, wake up, Dart!" he said excitedly, "You're going to miss mother's breakfast!" Squall slowly rose, groggy and disoriented. "_He's calling me 'Dart' again? What's going on with this place?_" Squall thought as he stood up. The rest of the morning went uneventfully. Everyone still referred to Squall as "Dart." Lavitz seemed to be under the impression that their fight was all some nightmare. After breakfast, Lavitz took Squall and Shana to the black-smith so that they could be better equipped for the battle ahead. Shana bought a sturdy new long-bow to replace the shabby old one she had been using since Hellena. Squall, on the other hand, was perfectly content with his Gunblade. That was the moment when Lavitz first took notice of it. "Hey Dart, what kind of sword is that? It looks a bit off."

"This isn't quite the same as a sword," Squall explained, "this is a Gunblade. The chambers here send vibrations through the blade whenever I pull this trigger, for maximum damage output."

"Wow, that's quite a thing," Lavitz said, pretending to understand. "Where'd you get it?"

"I-..." Squall hesitated, "I made this one myself," he said. It wasn't a lie, either, as SeeDs were taught to build their own weapons from raw materials, to ensure nobody ended up with a cheap mass-produced weapon. After all, they were an elite mercenary force. They couldn't be caught using cheap brittle metal.

Lavitz was amazed by Squall's apparent ingenuity. Lavitz repeatedly asked Squall if he could hold it, to which Squall continuously responded "No." Eventually, Lavitz tired of bugging Squall, and purchased a new spear to replace his rather beat up old one. Lavitz then proceeded to address the group, "Is everybody ready to leave for Hoax?" Squall and Shana nodded. "Excellent! Then let us be off!"


	5. A Rose by any other name

Squall, Lavitz, and Shana arrived at the fortress town of Hoax that evening. The whole town was surrounded by dense forests, filled with unusually loud birds. The town itself was rather small, comprised of four or five houses connected by various staircases and tunnels. When they entered the town, the group were greeted by the Knight Captain in charge of the place, Kaiser. Kaiser had dark brown hair, and was adorned in gold-plated armor, and had a snazzy red cape on his back. "Lavitz! It's good to see you again, my friend!" Kaiser said with a friendly smile.

"Indeed, it has been a while," Lavitz responded, shaking Kaiser's hand.

"I heard the unfortunate news about your Knighthood," Kaiser said to Lavitz with a somewhat more somber tone.

"Yes, and I accepted full responsibility for what happened. We must end this war, to prevent further tragedies!" Lavitz said, once again trying to sound as noble and "knightly" as possible.

"Well said, Lavitz!" Kaiser was apparently impressed by Lavitz noble-talk, "and who are your companions?"

"Ah, of course. These are the people who helped me escape from Hellena. This is Dart..."

"Greetings Dart!" Kaiser said to Squall, holding his hand out in greeting. Squall shook his hand without making eye-contact, or verbally responding in any way.

"...and this is Shana." Lavitz informed.

"A pleasure to meet you, Shana!" Kaiser greeted her, once again holding his hand out.

Shana shook his hand, and responded with a polite "Hello."

"Shall we go, and discuss our strategy?" Kaiser suggested, leading the group to the strategy room. The strategy room was clearly a repurposed dining hall. There were two other soldiers present, studying a map of the surrounding area, which had little figures placed around it, representing possible enemy locations. As the group stood around the table, Kaiser stood at the front, ready to inform the group of their situation. "We've been preparing for an attack for about a week, so far. We know for certain that the Sandorans are going to attack soon. What concerns me the most right now is the information that the Sandorans have a dragon on their side. If that dragon attacks, then we have basically no means of defense against it."

"I've seen the dragon," Squall interjected.

"You did?" Shana asked with concern.

"Yeah, a big green one, right? I encountered it as it was leaving Seles," Squall stated formally, conditioned by his military training.

"Any information you could give us would be appreciated," Kaiser said with a slight tone of relief.

"It was a large insect-like creature. Bottom-heavy, so I doubt it can fly. It also had a hard exoskeleton, which I was unable to cut through."

"You fought it?!" Shana asked, even more worried.

"I had a brief skirmish against the dragon," Squall reported, "however, before I could get an accurate measure of its battle capabilities, my fight was interrupted. Another traveling warrior disoriented the beast, and led me to a hiding place. The dragon did not appear to be particularly intelligent, as it gave up searching for us fairly quickly."

"That's unfortunate, but I thank you for the information. You say it can't fly?" Kaiser inquired.

"It did not appear capable of flight, no."

"Then at least we'll see it coming. We'll be able to evacuate the premises if necessary," Kaiser noted to the group, "but that's enough strategy for now. Our scouts will be back by morning, so we'll hold our strategy meeting then. Lavitz, Dart, I'm assigning you to night watch duty on the Southern wall."

"Yes sir!" Lavitz saluted. Squall simply nodded.

"I can help prepare meals for the soldiers!" Shana interjected without prompt.

"That sounds lovely! Thank you, Miss Shana!" Kaiser said oddly gratefully.

"Whatever," Squall mumbled.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" Shana asked with a pouting face, somehow hearing Squall, despite his expert skill in mumbling.

_"It means you've burned every meal you've cooked, so far!" _Squall wanted to say, but instead just responded, "...Sorry."

"Hmph, whatever," Shana said in a mocking tone, before wandering off to the kitchen.

"Heh heh," Lavitz laughed uncomfortably, "come, Dart, it's almost nightfall. We should go take our post."

* * *

Lavitz and Squall made their way up the fortress, to the Southern wall overlooking the main entrance to the fortress. Lavitz dismissed the guardsmen posted there, and the two took their positions at the wall. Their evening shift was mostly uneventful, save for Lavitz once again asking Squall if he could hold his gunblade, which Squall still refused.

It was a calm, dark night. Lavitz had paced back and forth along the wall, whilst Squall had been leaning against a corner, keeping careful watch of the pathway to the gate. Lavitz stomach audibly grumbled as the two could hear. "Ah, I'm going to go get a bite to eat," Lavitz said with embarrassment, "do you want me to get you anything?"

Squall smirked, "No, I'm good." Lavitz stopped and stared at Squall with a big grin. "What?" Squall asked indignantly.

"So, you _can_ smile!" Lavitz teased.

"Whatever."

Lavitz broke into laughter. "I'll be back soon," Lavitz said, as he walked away. Once Squall was alone, he had spotted a dark figure in the road. "Stop! Who goes there!" Squall shouted towards the figure. Complying with his demands, the figure indeed stopped, but did not answer his question. Squall got a better look at the person. It was a little difficult to tell, but Squall recognized the person as the woman in dark clothing whom he had seen the night before. _"She's been following me?"_

"I asked you a question!" Squall demanded, but she just stood there, motionless, staring at him. "Imperial Sandorans!" one of the guards from the Northern wall shouted out, before Squall had a chance to address the woman again. He turned around, and saw a storm of flaming arrows rain down upon the North side. Grappling hooks grabbed the walls from all sides, as the Sandoran troopers stormed the fort. Squall drew his gunblade, ready to fight. He easily dispatched a few soldiers, before noticing Lavitz at ground level, surrounded by soldiers. Squall swiftly jumped down to the ground, and killed a few of the soldiers attacking Lavitz. The soldiers scattered when Squall broke their formation. Lavitz smiled and thanked Squall for his assist.

"Hmph, you two look like you might be trouble," said a voice out of sight. The two warriors looked around, until they spotted the source, a Sandoran ninja standing atop the roof of a nearby house, looking down on them. "I'd better not take any risks in dispatching you. Kongol! It's time to make your entrance!" the ninja announced. Seconds after he said it, a gigantic man burst through the Northern wall, leaving a massive hole in its wake. "It can't be! It's a real Giganto!" one of the terrified Basil soldiers cried out. The ninja jumped down to ground level, to help the Giganto surround the two.

"I'll take the big one," Lavitz told Squall, "You think you can handle the little guy?"

"Don't get cocky!" Squall retorted, rushing toward the ninja.

The ninja artfully dodged each of Squall's slashes. _"Damn, I'm not fast enough!" _Squall backed off, and prepared to cast a Haste spell, but the clever shinobi knew better than that, and tossed a volley of shuriken to keep Squall on his toes. Meanwhile, Lavitz was keeping the Giganto at bay with passionate strikes, but they had little effect on the enormous man. "I guess I'll have to try my new move on you!" Lavitz boasted as he took a charging stance. He charged forward, and thrust his spear to the giant's massive chest, then proceeded to spin about, slashing the monster repeatedly, until ending it with a most powerful slash, and announcing the name of the technique, "Rod Typhoon!" Unfortunately, this seemed to do little more than anger the gargantuan warrior, as he grabbed Lavitz by the neck with swiftness, and held him up in the air, choking him for a while. Lavitz gasped and grappled with the monster's strength, but before he even knew it, the Giganto choke-slammed Lavitz into the dirt, causing Lavitz to cry out as he felt his neck being crushed under the massive weight. The titan then lifted Lavitz back into the air once more, and chucked Lavitz limp body at Squall. Squall was caught off guard by his flying comrade, and got knocked over, face down in the dirt. The ninja took advantage of Squall's vulnerable position, and tossed a long weighted chain out, which wrapped around Squall's body, immobilizing him.

"Now, Kongol! Finish the job!" the ninja commanded of his elephantine companion. Kongol approached, drawing his battle-axe from his back, raising it above his head for the finishing blow. Squall could do little more than wait for his inevitable demise.

"Squall!" a woman's voice shouted out, as a rapier flew down from the sky, landing next to Squall and breaking the chains that bound him. All four of them looked up, and saw a winged woman, in dark armor, staring into Squall's eyes intensely. "Awaken," she stated, "Spirit of the Red-Eyed Dragon!"

Suddenly, Squall began to float in the air as the red stone in his pocket glowed with power so bright it could be seen through his clothes. Fire cloaked him as the stones power fused with his own body. He burst out into a flaming winged form, and cut down the ninja before he even had a chance to react. The fire around Squall's body dissipated to reveal his new form. He was covered in bright red armor that covered every part of his body, yet didn't constrict his movement in the slightest. His gunblade had grown thicker, the chamber bit replaced with the design of a dragon's head. Upon his back were wings, identical to the woman's. Squall turned towards Kongol, who lowers his axe in front, to take a defensive stance. Squall flew toward the giant in a flash, and ran his gunblade through the Giganto, shattering his axe in the process. Kongol coughed up blood, and tried to grab Squall and crush him, but his strength was nothing compared to Squall's newfound power. Squall pulled the trigger, causing the blade to create an explosion within Kongol, and blow a massive hole through his torso. Kongol backed away slowly, looking at his gaping wound in disbelief, before collapsing, dead on the ground.

"Dart... what are you...?" Lavitz asked somewhat fearfully. Squall turned around to see that Shana had helped Lavitz to his feet, and they were both staring at him with frightened looks. Before Squall could try to come up with an answer, his form reverted, and the sudden loss of energy caused Squall to pass out.

* * *

"What did you do to Dart?!" Squall could hear Shana crying as he groggily awoke. He softly rubbed his forehead, trying to get his bearings. He was lying in a bed, somewhere in the fortress. Standing around him were Lavitz, Shana, and the woman in dark. Shana stood defensively between Squall and the woman as she looked towards her with accusing eyes. "Oh, Dart, you're awake," Lavitz noticed, the two girls looking back toward him immediately after. "Dart, this woman says she knows you!" Shana proclaimed, her eyes on the edge of tears.

"If you'll let me explain! I saved him from a dragon!" The woman desperately tried to reason with Shana. "Dart, is this true?" Shana asked.

Squall glared at the woman with spiteful eyes, and didn't answer their questions. His glare seemed to hurt the woman's feelings, as she looked noticeably saddened when Squall looked at her like that.

"Who are you?" Squall finally spoke.

"My name is Rose," she responded hesitantly.

"Why have you been following me?" Squall immediately followed.

"Be-because I'm a fellow Dragoon. I wanted to help you awaken to your powers," she responded, trying her best not to sound guilty.

"A Dragoon?" said Lavitz, "You mean the legendary warriors of the Dragon Campaign who led the Dragons assault against the Winglies?"

"Yes, these Dragoon Spirits are symbols. Proof that we deserve to rule over dragons," Rose stated proudly.

Squall was too upset to listen to their babbling about legends and dragons. "Whatever," he said as he got up, and stormed out of the room. "Dart, are you okay?" Shana asked as he walked away. "None of your business," he said, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

Squall leaned against the rubble of one of the destroyed houses, as he waited for Rose to inevitably follow him outside. Rose left the house, alone, to try and find him. "Dart, I-..." she started.

"How do you know my name?" Squall interrupted her.

"Wha-... Your friends told me," she responded, a little thrown off by the question.

"Shana and Lavitz don't know my name," Squall stated with an increasingly irritated tone. "How do you know my name?"

"Dart, I don't un-..."

"That's not my name."

"But, Dart I-..."

"Say my name!"

"Stop!" Rose shouted out. Squall was taken aback by how emotional she sounded by it. "Squall, please. I want to help you... however I can."

Squall calmed down a bit, and composed himself. "So you want to help me, but you can't tell me what you know?"

Rose nodded, "I'm sorry."

Squall sighed, "Fine, whatever."

Rose's expression brightened up upon hearing his catchphrase. She looked as though she had a lot to say, yet for some reason kept tight-lipped. The whole thing bugged Squall to no end, but it seemed like Rose knew more about his situation than anybody else he'd met, so he'd tolerate it for the time being.

Suddenly, a messenger ran through the fort shouting for Kaiser. Kaiser, Lavitz, and Shana all came outside, as everyone gathered around the messenger to hear what was so urgent. "It's the Seventh Fort in the Marshlands!" he stated, breathing heavily, "they're under attack by a dragon!"

"What?!" Kaiser said in a pained voice, as he held his abdomen painfully. He had apparently been injured in the battle last night. "Kaiser, be careful! Your wound..." Lavitz said with great concern for Kaiser's well-being.

"Damn it! I can't do anything in this state..." Kaiser moaned.

"Don't worry about it! I can still fight! I will offer my assistance to the Seventh Knighthood!" Lavitz said with determination.

"Are you sure you're all right? That Giganto really did a number on you," Kaiser asked with uncertainty.

"Just a few scuffs and bruises. I'm fine," Lavitz assured him.

"It won't matter. Only a Dragoon can defeat a dragon," Rose said with a sort of smug superiority.

"Then, can I count on you and Dart for assistance?"

Rose shrugged, and looked back to Squall for the answer. Squall raised an eyebrow at her odd behavior.

"...Whatever."


End file.
